March 9, 2010
By Lisa Priest
The Globe and Mail
Experts say Canada isn’t doing enough to protect its young athletes

She remembers the collision with another player, the fall to the ice, the feeling of dizziness. Skating shakily to the bench, she told her coach she had a concussion.

“How do you know?” the coach asked.

“Because I’ve had them before,” Jessica Raymond replied.

For the minor hockey player, it was her fifth concussion, bringing with it months of nausea, headaches and dizziness – and an acute awareness that head injuries hardly afflict pros alone.
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reachAbility, a charitable organization committed to creating an even playing field for persons with all types of disability, asks Canadians with disabilities to share their experiences with employment in “The First Person Project,” a book being published in 2010.

Whether you live with a physical, cognitive, visual, hearing, mental health or invisible disability, no matter where you are in your career, we want your stories of challenges, successes, stigma, accessibility, disclosure and empowerment, in your own voice and in your own way. Please send us your nonfiction contribution of no more than 1500 words; we encourage a variety of formats, from prose and poetry to art, photography, cartoons and more.

Our goal is to break down the real barriers to employment (stigma, fear and misunderstanding), to spread the “Equal (fair and equitable) Not Special” message, and to increase awareness of the advantages and achievability of inclusion, with strategies and solutions for the future. We’re interested in particular incidents and/or your overall experience. Topics you could focus on, but are not limited to, include:

1. How has your disability affected your getting a job? How do you feel about disclosure? If you have disclosed your disability in a job interview, what happened?
2. Have you felt accepted or excluded by management and co-workers?
3. What sort of barriers have you encountered at work? How have you dealt with them?
4. If your disability or issues surrounding it arose while you were employed, did things change at work, and if so, how? Were accommodations made? Did you leave work?
5. Has your disability influenced your job choices? Have you changed careers?

The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2010.*

*Please include your name, age, sex, disability and location. Your piece may appear anonymously at your request. Submission is not a guarantee of publication. Submissions are considered donations and are not compensated. We reserve the right to edit.

For more information or to make a submission, please contact:
Karen Janik, First Person Project Editor
editor@reachability.org
Tel/TTY: (902) 429-5878 | Toll Free/TTY: 1 (866) 429-5878
6389 Coburg Road, Suite 200, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 2A5

Bonnie Snaith, the mother of one of ARBI’s Outreach clients in Cold Lake will be interviewed on CBC tomorrow morning. The CBC is doing a story regarding individuals in the minimal conscious state and Bonnie will be interviewed live at 8:30 tomorrow morning on CBC the Current. Dr. Adrien Owen, a neurologist from England will be interviewed first regarding his research on the minimal conscious state.

If unable to listen to the interview live, just google The Current after noon tomorrow and it should be available.

Mary Anne Ostapovitch BSc. PT
Program Director
Direct: 403-217-2493
Main: 403-242-7116
Fax: 403-242-7478
Email: mao@arbi.ca

www.arbi.ca

Dear Colleagues,

There is a tremendous wealth of information being shared these days. The Neurological Health Charities Canada has brought all of the groups that deal with neurological conditions together. Please take a moment to review their site.

Please note that the NHCC website, http://www.neurohealthcharities.ca/) has been updated to meet our needs while we develop the broader web strategy. The updated site contains new member links, organizational information and the ability to capture user information through a form.

Please feel free to post a link to your own provincial website as well. Feel free to forward this link as appropriate.

Regards,
Celina Chavannes
*************************
Celina Rayonne Caesar-Chavannes
Project Coordinator
Neurological Health Charities Canada
Phone: 416-227-9700 ext. 3314
Mobile: 416-305-8380
www.neurohealthcharities.ca

In this issue

1. The Best of Three
2. Ontario Neurological Strategy
3. ERABI
4. ASIA Conference
5. No Flying Under the Radar
6. Upcoming Events
7. Harnessing the Power

NeuroMatters Connecting YOU to the Research (pdf)

A Brain Strategy for Canada (pdf)

By John Stewart – Red Deer Advocate

Published: February 03, 2010 8:55 AM

Steve Oursov returned to competitive hockey last month, after more than 10 months away from the game.

How long he’ll be able to play is anyone’s guess.

Whether he’ll suffer any long-term effects from the concussion he suffered a year ago is also a matter of guesswork.

What shouldn’t be uncertain is the need for a thorough examination of the growing impact of head injuries on hockey players of all ages, and the need to take action to mitigate the dangers.
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THE HAWAIIAN OYSTER ODYSSEY- a “FUN”draiser in support of Brain Injury Association of Canada was held at the Miller Tavern on Tues January 26, 2010.
Other 2010 Hawaiian Oyster Odysseys will be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John’s. Initial discussions have taken place with representatives from the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia to hold similar events in the near future.
Zoomer Magazine, Fashion and Trends, Shucks!

ThinkFirst Canada: a charitable organization dedicated to preventing brain and spinal cord injuries – Official Newsletter: Winter 2010 (pdf 828kb)

TORONTO – Gary Otsu, a brain injury survivor, will be a speaker at the Brain Injury Association of Canada’s Hawaiian Oyster Odyssey this year.

Spend an hour with Gary Otsu and it is hard not to feel inspired. Not only has he been living with his brain injury for 20 years, he also cracks a joke every third sentence, is living medication-free, and won’t let you buy your own coffee.

Otsu was 19 years old when he first started feeling the pain in his head. After a couple months the headaches had become unbearable and Otsu went to see a doctor. After this moment, Otsu’s life would drastically change. In one day, Otsu went from his family physician, to a neurologist, then to the neurosurgery wing of his local hospital, where he was immediately admitted as a patient.

At age 19, Otsu discovered he was living with eight tumours in his brain and two in his spinal cord. Otsu is different from other brain injury survivors, because his brain injury was not caused by a harmful event – his injury occurred naturally and without explanation.

“Yeah, I’ve been called the walking miracle,” said Otsu, “I guess people are amazed that I’m still alive.”

Over the course of four months, Otsu celebrated his 20th birthday, underwent three major surgeries and had five weeks of radiation therapy. In April, following the December day that Otsu was first admitted, his neurosurgeon told him that four tumours had grown back. Otsu’s fourth and final surgery to remove the new tumours took place that May.

Otsu’s last surgery was 15 years ago and he has not needed to see a doctor for his brain injury since.

“The doctor told me then that there was nothing else they could do,” said Otsu. “I was free to go, unless I start having bad headaches again, then I could go back.”
Today Otsu says that he “loves volunteering” and divides his time between Community Head Resources Service (CHIRS) and Sunnybrook Hospital. As well, Otsu spends two nights a week attending Brain Injury Society of Toronto (BIST) meetings and spends every Friday night cooking for up to nine people on his floor.
“A perfect day is just feelin good,” says Otsu.

Gary Otsu and other survivors will share their inspirational stories at each of the Odysseys starting in Toronto on January 26.